The present invention relates to a steering column for a motor vehicle, with a bracket unit for securing the steering column on the body of the motor vehicle and with at least one steering spindle bearing unit for the rotatable bearing of a steering spindle of the steering column and with at least one bending tab for the energy absorption during a movement of the steering spindle bearing unit relative to the bracket unit by means of deformation of the bending tab. At least two bending legs of the bending tab are connected with one another by means of at least one recurvature of the bending tab, and one of the bending legs is secured on the steering spindle bearing unit and the other bending leg is secured or is securable on the bracket unit by means of at least one connecting device which can be detached nondestructively.
Steering columns of this type are known per se in prior art. WO2009/121386 A1 discloses several different implementations of such steering columns. The document already mentions that the bending tab provided for the energy absorption in the event of a crash can be a pure bending tab but also a tearing-open bending tab. In the case of a pure bending tab, the energy absorption during the movement of the steering spindle bearing unit relative to the bracket unit takes place exclusively by means of deformation of the bending tab. In the case of tearing-bending tabs, in addition to the deformation, further energy absorption can be attained thereby that the bending tab is torn out of a frame or the like.
The invention addresses the problem of improving a generic steering column to the extent that it takes up the least installation space possible. It is further to be prevented that the bending tab is raised during the relative movement of the steering spindle bearing unit with respect to the bracket unit in the event of a crash.